The commission’s message to the press, put out yesterday, focused more on its ambition to make it easier for as many women as possible to exercise their right to vote. It called on the government to make registering to vote and voting anonymously easier and to ensure every woman knows their vote is theirs alone.

Claire Bassett, chief executive of the commission, said: "Those with unforeseen caring responsibilities could be aided, women escaping domestic violence would benefit and we can enable 100 per cent of women to exercise their right to vote and cast their ballot freely and with no undue influence."

In one, Bridget Prentice, an MP for 18 years and now a commissioner at the Electroral Commission, remembered: "It was 1969 and I was studying Higher History at my all-girls school in the East End of Glasgow. We talked of nothing else...as we debated the news that 18-year-olds were to get the vote the following year."

I vote because I can! Today I am celebrating #vote100 and the centenary of women's suffrage . I am so proud to exercise my right as a wife, a mother, as the first female MP for my wonderful Bury St Edmunds constituency and as the 435th woman to enter Parliament #yourvotematterspic.twitter.com/kkjWqMd0kX

An Electoral Commission spokesperson said: "The Commission has been working closely with local authorities in particular to mark the anniversary and it has been great to see the role women play in modern-day elections being celebrated, including at Monday’s Association of Electoral Administrators annual conference."